A recent article by Maneesh Sharma discusses the significance of fixing customer problems before they happen. Some companies take the customer service approach of waiting for their customers to come to them with complaints, and their customers end up being angrier and potentially leave for competitors.
It is possible to be proactive with customer issues and retain their business. This can be accomplished by training agents to see warning signs of future problems and how to fix them. In addition, companies should also provide open-feedback forums so their customers have a place to come and give their input and insights into how they feel the company could be better.
Finally, Sharma says that one of the biggest reasons for customer complaints is that companies don’t set clear and proper expectations, to begin with. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, live up to the promises you make.
Companies aren’t perfect. Products and services are bound to have issues from time to time no matter how many years the company has been in business or how much revenue they make every year. Sometimes companies view their customer service department as a sort of damage control for when things go haywire, but this could lead to disastrous results.
If you catch some flaw or problem with a product, service, or promotion, don’t wait until you’re called out on it before doing something about it. History has shown far too many examples of companies that remained silent when faced with adversity and ended up receiving more backlash than they would have had they simply come out and admitted their mistake immediately. Brands might not be able to predict every single thing that could go wrong, but there should be an effort to proactively solve issues before the customers become aware of it.
If you find yourself in a situation where your company has failed, accept it quickly. There’s no use trying to cover it up or hide from it because in the age of social media you will be sniffed out and end up looking weak. Instead, utilize your contact center and proactively own up to whatever problem you’re facing. This can be accomplished by utilizing social media to announce the problem and explain exactly what steps you’ll take to fix it.
In addition, social media contact center agents can respond to messages and direct customers to call the company with more detailed information. For more traditional channels, companies can have their contact center agents perform outbound calling to inform customers who recently made purchases of the issue with the product or service and can offer solutions.
These are only a few ways companies can take initiative with their contact centers during difficult times. However you handle adversity, do it with class and a sense of accountability. In the long run, customers will respect you for it and will be more likely to show loyalty.
This blog post is based on an article from CustomerThink. To read the original article, click here!
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